Abstract

Long-term, continuous modelling is essential for simulating the long-term impacts of urban drainage systems on aquatic ecosystems. Managing time-series data for periods of three human generations, or 75 years, is a critical task requiring specialized data management systems. Typical engineering design offices do not have adequate tools or resources to manage such data. As a further complication, many North American agencies are now offering public access to their data through modern media, such as the Internet and CD-ROM.

To identify current needs and preferences of practicing stormwater modellers, a survey was conducted. Results show that practitioners generally agree that continuous modelling is necessary, contrary to numerous planning and design manuals that proclaim continuous modelling is neither desirable nor feasible for stormwater modelling. Furthermore, many favour software tools that aid in their data collection and modelling exercises.

Accordingly, this study investigates the utility of linking a continuous stormwater model (SWMM) with a standard time-series data management system (ANNIE), thereby integrating a widespread and diverse collection of stormwater modelling applications. By means of a new graphical user-interface, efficient manipulation and transfer of time-series data was demonstrated, as measured in terms of computer storage space and processing speed.

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